Published Book or Work by:
|
Smoke and Mirrors - Q-Ships & U-Boats in the First World War |
 |
| Published by Sutton Publishing | | December, 2006 |
| ISBN: 0750946059 | | When the First World War began, attacks on unarmed merchant ships were considered uncivilised warfare. As German U-boats struck without warning, however, the Royal Navy, with little in the way of anti-submarine devices, developed these merchant vessels – Q-ships – as decoys to trap and destroy them.
This is the fascinating story of the Q-ship recounted from a wide range of primary and secondary source material from British, German and American archives and by following the careers of the eight men who won the Victoria Cross on Special Service Operations; as well as accounts of the German U-boat crews on the receiving end.
Q-ships were ordinary merchant vessels or fishing boats with an array of concealed guns. They appeared an easy target as they plodded along the sea lanes, while U-boats carried only a few torpedoes, which their captains were eager only to deploy only as a last resort.
The U-boat would surface and order its target to stop. Papers and manifests were inspected. If it was a genuine neutral bound for a neutral country, the ship could go on its way. If in doubt, the crew would take to the lifeboats. The abandoned ship would be scuttled by a boarding party or destroyed by the submarine's deck gun.
As the war progressed, however, tactics changed. The new, larger U-boats carried more torpedoes and captains would fire to disable the target before surfacing. Q-ships responded by fielding a 'panic party' which would abandon the decoy, while hidden gun crews waited, hoping to draw the enemy into close range.
No book on Q-ships would be complete without the Baralong incidents, in one of which a Q-ship crew allegedly executed the survivors of a U-boat in 1915. In this compelling account, the author includes revealing extracts from the diary of a Royal Marine who served on board the Baralong, together with other first-hand accounts. | |
History
, Marine Subjects
, Military/War
|
| |
| 0 comments |
You must be logged in to add a comment |
|
|
